Ex-Rank Awakening: My Attacks Make Me Stronger - Chapter 414

Chapter 414: EX 414. What Happened To My Sister
Selena drew in a slow breath. This time, it was their turn to speak, and Leon could tell from the way her fingers trembled in Dayton’s grasp that the story weighed heavier than any wound.

“I’ll explain everything to you, dear.”

Dayton tightened his hold on her hands, grounding her. He didn’t interrupt. He just nodded, a silent reassurance that she wasn’t alone, even if what she was about to dig up had been buried for a reason.

Selena’s gaze drifted, unfocused, as if she were looking past Leon and into another time.

“It started six months ago,” she said quietly.

“Trial takers began getting ejected from their trials. At first, we thought it was a malfunction. Isolated incidents. Nothing more.”

Leon listened without moving, every word etched into him.

“Then it got worse,” she continued. “Teleportation pads stopped responding. Entire shelters went dark. Not long after that… the altars themselves failed.”

Her voice tightened.

“That’s when we understood. The trial world wasn’t malfunctioning. It was shutting down.”

A heavy silence settled before Leon finally spoke.

“What did you do?”

Selena closed her eyes.

“You have to understand,” she said. “The trial world wasn’t just another battlefield to us. It was a pillar. An oasis in the desert during our darkest days of the demon invasion. But when the trial world first appeared… It gave us hope. Real hope. The kind that makes you believe tomorrow is worth fighting for.”

Leon felt it then, the shape of the mistake forming before she even said it.

“But,” Selena went on, her voice cracking, “we became blind to everything else.”

Her eyes opened, wet but steady.

“We poured every resource we had into sustaining the trial world. Manpower. Energy. Relics. We clung to it, convinced that if we could just keep it alive and it would continue to be our pillar.”

Her fingers clenched around Dayton’s.

“And while we did that, the demons were growing stronger. Bolstering their forces. Expanding unchecked.”

She swallowed.

“By the time we realized our mistake, it was already too late.”

Leon felt a cold weight settle in his chest.

“We didn’t just lose the trial world,” Selena said softly. “We lost Ignis, Nostra and Yggdrasil. Three worlds… gone.”

She looked at her son then, really looked at him.

“All because of our foolishness.”

Selena’s voice trembled as she continued, the words dragging themselves out of a place she had sealed long ago.

“Because we poured everything into trying to save a dying world, we didn’t have the strength left to defend our own.” Her fingers tightened around Dayton’s hand. “When Ignis, Nostra and Yggdrasil fell, there was nothing we could do but open our gates. Entire worlds came to us for shelter. From that moment on, we were fighting a losing battle.”

Leon stood still, listening, his face unreadable.

“The demons kept growing stronger,” Selena went on.

“And it wasn’t just them. Humans. Trial races. People we once fought beside.” Her voice cracked. “They began crossing over. Betraying us. Joining the demons. We were burning through resources faster than we could replace them. For every piece of equipment we forged, five were lost on the battlefield. We were surviving on borrowed time.”

Leon understood all of that. He truly did. The strategy. The desperation. The slow collapse of a war no one could afford anymore.

But it wasn’t what he had asked.

His gaze sharpened, fixed on his mother. “Mom,” he said again, quieter this time. “What about Valeria?”

Silence followed.

It was the third time he had asked.

On the surface, Leon looked calm. Too calm. Inside, something was coiling tighter with every passing second, waiting. Selena’s lips parted, then closed. She swallowed, her breath hitching in a small, broken sound.

“We tried everything,” she said softly.

Leon’s fingers twitched.

“We just couldn’t…” Her voice failed her. She squeezed her eyes shut, as if that alone might undo the words. “…Leon, your sister is dead.”

Something shattered.

The world seemed to lurch as the corruption Leon had kept chained inside him tore free.

Violet light exploded outward, raw and violent, the ground cracking beneath his feet. His eyes burned from blue to a deep, unnatural violet as waves of pressure ripped through the area, hurling people back like leaves in a storm.

Luke was thrown off his feet. Members of Unit Alpha slammed into debris. Even the governor staggered, forced to brace himself against the force.

Only Selena and Dayton remained close, fighting through the crushing pressure. Selena screamed his name, her voice tearing through the chaos.

“Leon, calm down!”

There was no answer.

For a full minute, the corruption raged, howling outward as if the world itself were being punished for daring to deliver those words.

Then, slowly, the waves receded. The ground fell silent again, scarred and fractured.

Leon stood at the center of it all.

The power withdrew, but what remained on his face was far more terrifying than the outburst itself. His expression was empty. Cold. Stripped of anything human.

He turned to his parents.

“Tell me everything that happened,” he said. His voice was flat, devoid of warmth. “And tell me who was involved.”

There was no anger in his tone. No grief. Just certainty.

Leon was no longer thinking about individuals alone. Somewhere deep within him, a decision had already been made. Whatever species, faction, or bloodline had played a hand in this would not simply be punished.

They would be erased.

And compared to what awaited them, death would be mercy.

****

In a dark chamber, a being of pure shadow sat upon a black throne. Streams of darkness crawled along his back, feeding him an unseen power.

His eyes opened, piercing the void as he gazed into the distance. A slow smile curved his lips.

“The vessel has finally returned,” he murmured.

“Now all the pieces are in place.”

His laughter soon rolled through the emptiness, hollow and cruel, before the chamber fell silent once more and the figure sank back into stillness.

****

Author’s note: Thank your for reading!